Three Tesla employees killed in twin-engine plane crash

Very sad news to report this morning related to a plane crash in East Palo Alto, California, on Wednesday. A plane owned by Doug Bourn, senior electrical engineer for Tesla Motors, veered off course just after taking off in heavy fog and crashed into a neighborhood killing all three Tesla employees on board. Although four houses were damaged, no one on the ground was injured. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla issued the following statement:

"Three Tesla employees were on board a plane that crashed in East Palo Alto early this morning. We are withholding their identities as we work with the relevant authorities to notify the families. Our thoughts and prayers are with them. Tesla is a small, tightly-knit company, and this is a tragic day for us."

Although not technically rock stars, the engineers that produced the Tesla Roadster, the first production electric vehicle manufactured around lithium-Ion batteries, certainly rocked the automotive world. Tragic, indeed.